Local officials in Texas on Tuesday said they were unable to answer key questions about how prepared they were for the deadly flooding that struck the area on Friday, including how and when the county emergency manager responded.
The National Weather Service issued a flash flood warning for Kerr County — where the Guadalupe River is located and the vast majority of fatalities were located — at 1:14 a.m. Friday.
Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha told reporters Tuesday that he was first notified about the flooding “around the 4 [a.m.] to 5 [a.m.] area,” when 911 calls came in.
“One of my sergeants was in dispatch when the first calls started to come in,” he told reporters.
However, when he was pressed to give more details on a timeline, the sheriff said it would take time to get more details.
“It was between 4 and 5 [a.m.] when I got notified, but prior to that in that 3 to 4 area my understanding is … ” Leitha said, before he stopped without completing his sentence, adding officials were “trying to get that process of trying to put a timeline.”
“As I’ve told you several times, that is not my priority at this time,” he added.
In the days since the deadly flooding, state and local officials have said they remain in a search and rescue operation. Hundreds of first responders remained along the Guadalupe River in Kerr County on Tuesday “working to reunite families,” Leitha said.
As of Tuesday, the death toll had risen to 110, and Gov. Greg Abbott said at least 173 people were still missing across the state.
The governor said the Texas National Guard is assisting local authorities search for the missing, and helicopters and drones are also being used in the search efforts.
When ABC News asked Leitha if the emergency manager, who has not been identified, was awake at the time or pushed the flash flood alerts out, the sheriff commented, “I cannot tell you at this time.”
Other reporters asked similar questions about who was on call and when they were notified, but the officials declined to respond and soon switched to another topic before ending the news conference.
“We will get answers. Right now all of our resources are focused on recovery,” Lt. Col. Ben Baker, deputy director of law enforcement for the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department.
Some other Texas officials said that the community should have been more prepared when the storm hit.
“There should have been sirens here,” Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick told Fox News on Monday.
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